Thousands of Wisconsinites, including postal workers, have raised concerns with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin about recent changes to the mail system, including that the U.S. Postal Service isn’t ready to handle the high number of absentee ballots come Election Day.
John Kieca, a repairman at the USPS Madison office and one of the postal workers who contacted Baldwin’s office, said in an interview that only one of two automated flat mail sorting machines, which handles larger mail such as absentee ballots, is operating for the Madison Post Office.
“If something goes wrong, the sorting machine could be down for 12 hours,” Kieca said. “Right now, we are doing OK, but I’m not sure what will happen when we get to Election Day.”
Baldwin, D-Madison, sent a letter this week to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy asserting that his proposed operational changes — such as the removal and disconnection of mail sorting machines, denials of overtime and bans on late or extra trips to deliver mail — are still being implemented in Wisconsin’s post offices even though they were blocked by a federal judge in July.